The Former Trump Presidency Thread

[Skinypupy]

Withdrawn

Because the libs would be mean to him, or something.



Truly the best people.

[malchior]

He left out the part where even the GOP Senators were willing to stand up to him on this but mostly right.

[Isgrimnur]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... ns/516768/

The amendment was rejected on a party-line vote by these 23 Republicans (the ones with asterisks next to their names represent relatively competitive districts; the others are thought to be in “safe seats” for the GOP, and only vulnerable in primaries):

Kenny Marchant of Texas

Retiring

Republican Rep. Kenny Marchant said Monday he will not seek reelection to represent his Dallas-area district, leaving open a third Texas House seat heavily targeted by Democrats in 2020.

Marchant’s announcement comes days after Rep. Will Hurd (R-Tex.) announced he would not seek reelection in a sprawling border district and less than a month after Rep. Pete Olson (R-Tex.) declined to seek reelection in the Houston suburbs.

All three men won reelection in 2018 by five percentage points or less — in Hurd’s case, by only a few hundred votes.

[Jaymann]

Independent

Donald Trump has blamed what he called "Fake News" for stoking "anger and rage" in the wake of two gun attacks that killed a total of 29 people, one of which is being treated as a case of domestic terrorism.

In a tweet on Monday morning, the president said the media had a responsibility to safeguard "life and safety" in the United States.

Translated: "You'd better be nicer to me or my supporters will go shoot more people!"

Or even worse declare martial law due to the "crisis at the border" and shut down all media except Fox News.

[Jeff V]

Or even worse declare martial law due to the "crisis at the border" and shut down all media except Fox News.
[/quote]

Would not work unless he also censors the internet and prevents us from accessing international news sources.

[Kraken]

First they came for the journalists, and I said nothing. I don't know what happened after that.

[Jaymann]

Or even worse declare martial law due to the "crisis at the border" and shut down all media except Fox News.

Would not work unless he also censors the internet and prevents us from accessing international news sources.
[/quote]Ya know they have the internet in China. Very 1984 that Trump calls them the boogeyman.

[malchior]

[LordMortis]

Beto really does hit all the right chords.

[Smoove_B]

Nothing to see here. Just our President preparing to go after social media platforms for "conservative bias" via Executive Order ahead of the coming elections. Move along.

[LordMortis]

“If the internet is going to be presented as this egalitarian platform and most of Twitter is liberal cesspools of venom, then at least the president wants some fairness in the system,”

Isn't egalitarian a codeword for socialism?

And howcome corporations are people protected by 1st the amendment when it comes to shielding their political donation but not when is comes to running their communications business? (Which is not to say I actually agree that the later shouldn't have oversight at some level)

[malchior]

I'm not too worried about this as a practical assault on liberty in the short-term. Trump's activities here appear to be aimed at asking telecomms to regulate speech based on their content. That is effectively the government doing it and won't survive any normal pre-Trump legal analysis. This is more about his ongoing long-term efforts poisoning discourse and building up his victim culture to divide the nation. It is part of his attack on Democracy and needs to be called out as such.

[Isgrimnur]

Isn't egalitarian a codeword for socialism?

I don't know about code word, but it's literally about equality.



But, you know, the people that are guilty of discriminating like to paint themselves as victims.

[LordMortis]

If you go to any libertarian anything anywhere and start talking about freedom in terms of the E word it will quickly turn to and I am under the impression that conservatism plays pretend and masks itself as Libertarian Capitalism Ho! nowadays. Maybe I'm way off base.

I want to say that is where I started diverging from my own heavy libertarian leanings. I want to say it happened somewhere in college when I was reading John Stewart Mill and dissecting the concepts behind his vision for utilitarianism. But now it's all ancient history for my fading brain.

[Isgrimnur]

I'm all for personal libertarianism. I am vehemently opposed to capitalistic libertarianism.

[Blackhawk]

If Trump is going to throw executive orders at the 1st amendment, better he do it now while the courts still have plenty of time to smack it down before the election.

[Isgrimnur]

I just saw a tweet that I figured was a joke but it turns out to be true. Trump just said he's considering pardons for Martha Stewart and Rod Blagojevich!

ABC News

President Donald Trump says he's "very strongly" considering commuting the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (blah-GOY'-uh-vich), who is serving a 14-year prison term on multiple federal corruption convictions.
...
The Republican president told reporters Wednesday night while returning to Washington aboard Air Force One that he thought Blagojevich, a Democrat, had been treated "unbelievably unfairly."

Trump says he's taking into consideration Blagojevich's wife and children and what was, in his view, mere braggadocio.

[LawBeefaroni]

Stewart should refuse the pardon. Blago should refuse the commutation too but no way that swamp scum turd would.

Interesting to note that after Blago was indicted but before he went up the river, he was on The Apprentice. He literally worked for Donald Trump.

[Pyperkub]

Better article indicating the stupidity:

ared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, had suggested Blagojevich be pardoned, advising the president that it would appeal to Democrats, one of those people said.

Yeah, no. Commuting the sentence of a corrupt politician doesn't appeal to this Democrat, and most likely, not others.

[malchior]

It'll appeal to some Democrats. IIRC, Jesse Jackson and a few others have been maintaining that it was an over the top prosecution for years. It however won't be seen positively by the vast majority of Democrats and it's cover for all the other shit he wants to do anyway. Let's be real here.

[Archinerd]

Nice try Trump, but I still remember all of the other horrible things you've said and done.

[malchior]

[LawBeefaroni]

"They were practically dying to get in there to see me. "

[Skinypupy]

That thread led me to this interaction.

I get that it's also staged to some extent, but the level of humanity Beto shows (especially compared to the narcissist who was there for nothing but a photo opp) is encouraging.

[tjg_marantz]

Not a Walmart employee. Doesn't invalidate the interaction.

[Skinypupy]

Not a Walmart employee. Doesn't invalidate the interaction.

Yeah, that was corrected in the thread. The guy was shopping at WalMart for school supplies when the shooting happened.

[LordMortis]

He may have me hoodwinked but I take him at his word.

[Holman]

Nothing to see here, just the Attorney General dismissing judicial process and giving the thumbs up to vigilante violence.

In a week like this one.

[El Guapo]

Stewart should refuse the pardon. Blago should refuse the commutation too but no way that swamp scum turd would.

Interesting to note that after Blago was indicted but before he went up the river, he was on The Apprentice. He literally worked for Donald Trump.

Can you refuse a pardon or commutation? Not totally sure whether the consent of the pardoned matters.

[Jeff V]

it's because in his tiny orange peanut mind, the corruption was related to Obama (the selling of his senate seat) and therefore entirely unfair that he be imprisoned for it.

Hell, Trump probably read the list of convictions and said "hell, I commit more than that by 6 am every day." Maybe he's trying to set a precedent of corruption as a non-imprisionable offence.

[malchior]

Susan Gordon has resigned writing a GFY letter on the way out. Trump is literally dismantling the Intelligence capability of the country now too. Putin couldn't have dreamed this would go so well.

[Kraken]

This former G man says the FBI is tiptoeing around right-wing terror groups:

“I believe Christopher A. Wray is an honorable man, but I think in many ways the FBI is hamstrung in trying to investigate the white supremacist movement like the old FBI would,” Gomez said. “There’s some reluctance among agents to bring forth an investigation that targets what the president perceives as his base. It’s a no-win situation for the FBI agent or supervisor.”

Gomez said that reluctance stems in large part from the public criticism President Trump has launched against the FBI over the course of the bureau’s investigation into Russian election interference and the president’s ­conduct.

“I don’t think there’s any faith by the FBI right now that the Justice Department is an independent law enforcement organization,” he said. “I think the FBI is up to the challenge of investigating white nationalism and white supremacy as a domestic terrorism threat, they just have to be allowed to do it.”

The FBI, as you would expect, calls bullshit.

[LawBeefaroni]

Stewart should refuse the pardon. Blago should refuse the commutation too but no way that swamp scum turd would.

Interesting to note that after Blago was indicted but before he went up the river, he was on The Apprentice. He literally worked for Donald Trump.

Can you refuse a pardon or commutation? Not totally sure whether the consent of the pardoned matters.

Well, you'd still be pardoned/commuted but a loud public refutation would be nice to see, even if it's only symbolic.

[malchior]

People have been arguing they've been not as effective as necessary battling white supremacists for over a decade now (since Obama was rising as President). This wasn't necessarily true but the difference is that Trump made efforts to shut them down.

Then Trump won the White House. In the new Administration, efforts to confront domestic extremism “came to a grinding halt,” says Selim. The new Administration redirected federal resources on Islamist terrorism. Barely a week into his presidency, Reuters reported that Trump had tried to change the name of the Countering Violent Extremism program to Countering Radical Islamic Extremism.

The Administration’s reconstituted Office for Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention saw its mission expand while its staffing and budget were slashed to a fraction of what it had been, according to a former DHS official. “The infrastructure we had labored over for years started to get torn down,” says Selim, who also led counterterrorism efforts under George W. Bush. “It has been decimated in the past two years under this Administration.”

The Justice Department has also recently reorganized its domestic-terrorism categories in a way that masks the scope of white-supremacist violence, according to former FBI officials who say the change makes it harder to track or measure the scale of these attacks, which are often haphazardly classified as hate crimes or deferred to state and local authorities. The lack of clear data impacts the resources the FBI can devote to investigating them.

[Isgrimnur]

Independent

Donald Trump has sparked global revulsion after being photographed grinning with a two-month-old child who was made an orphan during Saturday’s mass shooting in El Paso which left 22 people dead.

The infant’s adopted parents, Andre and Jordan Anchondo, were both killed in the supermarket massacre, while he himself suffered broken bones when Ms Anchondo fell on the child to shield him from further bullets.

But when the baby, called Paul, was brought to the US president at the University Medical Center of El Paso, the 73-year-old appeared untouched by the child’s tragic plight. Both he and first lady Melania smiled for cameras, while the commander-in-chief also threw in a thumbs up.

The photo emerged as Mr Trump already faced criticism for his behaviour during his visit to the city on Thursday.

Doctors said he appeared to “lack empathy”, while he was filmed bragging to medical staff – who have spent the week dealing with the aftermath of the massacre – about the size of a rally he had previously held there.
...
Little Paul, himself, it was later revealed, had been brought back to the hospital - reportedly at the request of White House staff - having been discharged days earlier.

All eight adult patients who were still at the medical centre refused to meet Mr Trump, the Washington Post reported.

[hepcat]

A tale of two presidents in the face of overwhelming tragedy: Obama breaks into a stirring and emotion filled rendition of Amazing Grace, Trump asks how big the crowd is outside.

Trump really is a textbook sociopath, isn't he?

Spoiler:

Glibness and Superficial Charm.
Manipulative and Conning. They never recognize the rights of others and see their self-serving behaviors as permissible. ...
Grandiose Sense of Self. ...
Pathological Lying. ...
Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt. ...
Shallow Emotions. ...
Incapacity for Love.
Need for Stimulation.

[El Guapo]

‘Sorry About The Tornado Or Whatever,’ Says Trump Wolfing Down Bowl Of Chili While Consoling El Paso Shooting Victim.

EL PASO, TX—Expressing sincere condolences for the tornado or whatever it was, President Donald Trump consoled an El Paso shooting victim Thursday while wolfing down a bowl of chili. “It’s really terrible what that hurricane or whatever did to your house,” said Trump, who quickly polished off the chili by lifting up the bowl and pouring the spicy beef stew straight into his mouth, pausing only to tear into a piece of cornbread. “That train crash or something sounded like it was really bad. At least you guys here in Cleveland have this great soup to get you through whatever happened. Could definitely use a little more sour cream. Anyway, congratulations.” At press time, Trump was informing the victim of the profound impact this chili had on him and that he would do everything in his power to ban wildfires or something or other.

[LawBeefaroni]

Do we really even need the Onion anymore? The reality of Trump kind of makes it redundant.

[LawBeefaroni]

Independent

Donald Trump has sparked global revulsion after being photographed grinning with a two-month-old child who was made an orphan during Saturday’s mass shooting in El Paso which left 22 people dead.

The infant’s adopted parents, Andre and Jordan Anchondo, were both killed in the supermarket massacre, while he himself suffered broken bones when Ms Anchondo fell on the child to shield him from further bullets.

But when the baby, called Paul, was brought to the US president at the University Medical Center of El Paso, the 73-year-old appeared untouched by the child’s tragic plight. Both he and first lady Melania smiled for cameras, while the commander-in-chief also threw in a thumbs up.

The photo emerged as Mr Trump already faced criticism for his behaviour during his visit to the city on Thursday.

Doctors said he appeared to “lack empathy”, while he was filmed bragging to medical staff – who have spent the week dealing with the aftermath of the massacre – about the size of a rally he had previously held there.
...
Little Paul, himself, it was later revealed, had been brought back to the hospital - reportedly at the request of White House staff - having been discharged days earlier.

All eight adult patients who were still at the medical centre refused to meet Mr Trump, the Washington Post reported.

[Paingod]

Do we really even need the Onion anymore? The reality of Trump kind of makes it redundant.

It reminds me how sad our reality is when I have to hover over the link to see where it came from to go "Oh, a joke, I see" and then I don't laugh. It used to be that distinguishing reality from satire was a lot easier.